Köln and St. Pauli head coaches trade swipes over ‘biased ball boys’ and ‘unevenly watered pitches’ | OneFootball

Yesterday’s 1-1 Bundesliga draw between 1. FC Köln and St. Pauli yielded a most unexpected talking point after the full time whistle. St. Pauli head coach Alexander Blessin ended up criticizing the work of the ball boys working in the stadium of the hosts. Blessin let loose at the post-match press conference. 

“I’ve given some thought as to whether I should bring this up,” Blessin began, “but it simply touches a nerve deep within me. I don’t want to level accusations at anyone here in Köln, but I’m genuinely pissed off. If we want to talk about ‘fair play’, we need to get to this issue.

“We have to talk about the fact that some teams are short-changed by the [hosting] ball boys,” Blessin continued. “In the first half [with the score level at 0-0], the balls were on the sidelines [for quick play continuation] but during the second half [with Köln up 1-0], they were no longer there.

“Just do it the way they do in England,” Blessin concluded at the end of his rant. “Then we don’t have to talk about the ball boys. Then we don’t have a problem because there’s a fair solution.“

Sitting opposite Blessin at the presser, Köln head coach Lukas Kwasniok didn’t necessarily contradict Blessin. DFL regulations already do stipulate that balls must remain just outside the touchline in order to ensure quick continuation of play. Kwasniok even acknowledged the need for uniform standards. 

Kwasniok still took the opportunity to hit back at his counterpart, noting that St. Pauli’s pitch at the Millerntor wasn’t always up to professional standards. 

“It’s obvious that one notices something like that [the ball boys] more if you’re trailing [in the match],” Kwasniok said. “But I didn’t think it wrong in the past when one you traveled somewhere to find one side of the pitch watered better than the other side.

“St. Pauli sometimes benefited from such situations in the past because the pitch was in disastrous condition,” Kwasniok continued. “If the DFL has an issue, it will make its way to Köln.“

GGFN | Peter Weis